Insight: “I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery.” —Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Upright: “I’m thrilled that we defeated S 1… This was a victory for the angels. This bill was written in hell by the devil himself. This bill wouldn’t make it easier to vote. This would make it easier to vote illegally. This is the ‘Corrupt Politicians Act,’ and I’m glad we defeated it.” —Senator Mike Lee

For the record: “The notion of a president’s son capitalizing on that relationship by selling art at obviously inflated prices and keeping the public in the dark about who’s funneling money to him has a shameful and grifty feel to it.” —Walter Schaub, Obama’s senior ethics adviser, on Hunter Biden’s “art” sales

Good question: “If [Democrat] politicians disagree with the Catholic church on so much, why do they bother remaining tied to it?” —Tony Perkins

Observations: “It is a tragedy that something so fundamental as religious freedom is now buried in the weeds of legal hair-splitting. … Why do we need Harvard-trained lawyers to justify something so obvious, that the essence of American religious freedom is Catholics raising children, or providing foster care, according to their biblical values? They are not forcing their values, or asking government to force their values, on anyone. The preamble of our Constitution explains that its mission is ‘to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.’ When did this get lost?” —Star Parker

The bottom line: “This war against reality, normalcy and our country is the most serious battle we’re facing as a nation today.” —Gary Bauer

Tyrannical ultimatum: “If [the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is] going to politically weaponize religion by ‘rebuking’ Democrats who support women’s reproductive choice, then a ‘rebuke’ of their tax-exempt status may be in order.” —Congressman Jared Huffman

Gaslighting, part I: “Our democracy desperately needs the proposals in [the For the People Act]. And guess what? The American people agree. Yeah, this bill is bipartisan except right here in this place.” —Senator Amy Klobuchar

Gaslighting, part II: “When [Republicans] said don’t even debate [the For the People Act], I think they were insulting and really giving the middle finger to the American people.” —Senator Bob Casey

Gaslighting, part III: “I don’t know if there’s anything we can do to get Republicans on board with protecting access to the ballot with voting rights.” —Senator Chris Coons

Non sequitur, part I: “Call me radical, but I do not believe a minority of Senators should be able to block voting rights for millions of people. But I guess I’m just from that far-left school of thought that legislation should pass when a majority of legislators vote for it.” —Congresswoman AOC (“The vote was 50-50, there is no minority rule here.” —Spencer Brown)

Non sequitur, part II: “Now is the time for majority rule in the Senate. We must end the filibuster, pass sweeping voting rights legislation, and protect our democracy.” —Senator Bernie Sanders

Grand delusions, part I: “There’s two big issues before Congress right now, infrastructure and voting rights. Infrastructure is sort of the classic stuff you get in politics. … The voting rights is very different. This is life or death for the democracy. This is about whether the people are going to control their government or the government is going to decide how the democracy works or doesn’t work. And I just think one of them is an existential crisis for the United States, and the other seems like it’s going to be worked out.” —CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin

Grand delusions, part II: “This is going to be a debate about whether or not we want America to be the place that the Founders … wanted it to be.” —PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor (“Please name a founder who sought complete federal control of elections, abolition of voter identification, publicly-funded candidacies, ballot harvesting, an election month, and a politically-stacked FEC.” —Ben Shapiro)

Race bait, part I: “Republicans are now proving that systemic racism exists — and they, along with Fox News, are the primary offenders. With their united stand against the voting-rights bill and their united votes against [OPM pick Kiran] Ahuja on the bogus justification of critical race theory, they’re the ones reducing Americans ‘to their racial identity alone,’ as [Senator Josh] Hawley put it. The Proud Boys who attacked the Capitol must be filled with pride anew.” —The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank

Race bait, part II: “Senate Republicans filibustered the For the People Act, escalating the GOP’s battle against a multiracial democracy.” —Ibram X. Kendi

And last… “Those who promote the utterly un-evidenced lie that America is rife with voter suppression — and this would include nearly every Democrat and the entire establishment media — are undermining democracy.” —Ben Shapiro